The officiating crew for Sunday's game between the Raptors and Thunder suddenly had a fever in the final seconds of regulation, and the only prescription was more ejections.
Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan, forward Serge Ibaka and head coach Dwane Casey were all ejected with less than 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of Toronto's loss to Oklahoma City. The technical party started after DeRozan complained about a no-call on a potential game-tying layup. DeRozan's displeasure resulted in his first technical foul, and on the ensuing possession, he was hit with his second technical, resulting in an early trip to the locker room.
MORE: Thunder vs. Raptors box score
It appears DeRozan called lead official Marc Davis "trash" as he left the court.
Referees miss clear foul on Brewer as DeRozan goes for the 2for1 pic.twitter.com/k2vFMXJbf6
— The Render (@TheRenderNBA) March 18, 2018
Ibaka was also ejected for objecting to the calls on the floor, but Casey's situation was not nearly as simple. A fan yelled in Davis' direction, and apparently Davis believed the comment came from Casey. Boom — Casey gone.
The incredulous looks on the faces of both Casey and Kyle Lowry, who fouled out in the fourth quarter, tell the story. Even Thunder forward Corey Brewer failed to comprehend what had happened.
Even Corey Brewer laughing when refs ejected Casey for what fan said pic.twitter.com/1jInAT4Rqz
— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) March 18, 2018
Here's how it looked in the play-by-play log. This is... something.
This play by play to end the game @nballaccess pic.twitter.com/auZ0nrLDJL
— Francisco Rios (@cisco0602) March 18, 2018
Just to be safe, the officiating crew (Davis, Haywoode Workman and Brent Barnaky) was escorted off the floor by security in front of an angry Air Canada Centre crowd.
Referees got a full security escort off the floor in Toronto pic.twitter.com/vCtuPEoQsB
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 18, 2018
Casey took the high road in his postgame availability, saying that the Raptors are "going to complain the proper way how the game got out of hand at the end. We just watched the calls, we’re going to do it the right way."
DeRozan took a much different approach.
"[Brewer] smacked the s— out of me," DeRozan said regarding the no-call on his layup attempt (via the Toronto Star). "He smacked me. He tried to smack me because I had a layup. Period. I got fouled...
"We’re used to going against the odds every step of the way. It’s been like that. We fight through it, but as soon as we say something, we’re the bad guys, we get fined, we get criticized. Every single night when we play, we fight against all the odds. We still prevail, but we’ve all got a breaking point and it’s frustrating. You seen it tonight."
This is just the latest incident pitting NBA referees against players and coaches. Both Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry and Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy earned $15,000 fines for their criticisms of officiating in recent games. Don't be surprised if DeRozan has to pay up as well.
